Anti-violence youth gunned down, but not silenced

In this July 8, 2014 photo, Felicia Jordan rests her hands with decorative fingernails, inspired by her deceased 19-year-old son Ravon who died after being shot in a gang crossfire, in Fayetteville, N.C. Ravon spoke out against gun violence at a city council meeting after his best friend, Shaniqua Simmons, and her boyfriend were gunned down in an apartment at the former Cambridge Arms. "I don't feel like, as a resident in an apartment complex, you should be paying basically for your grave site," Ravon said. "You shouldn't be paying to be killed or murdered in your own house." (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)

Dressed in jeans, a low-neck T-shirt and white sneakers, 19-year-old Ravon Jordan strode confidently to the podium to address the city council.

He had just three minutes, so he got right to the point: Eleven days earlier, on May 1, Jordan's best friend, Shaniqua Simmons, and her boyfriend were gunned down in an apartment at the complex formally known as the Cambridge Arms. It was the second double homicide at the 694-unit complex since January, and Jordan said it was time for the city to close it down.

Barely a month later, Ravon Jordan, the aspiring fashion designer was dead. Cut down in the crossfire between two rival gangs during an early morning house party, he was the victim of the city's ninth homicide of 2014. (AP)